boy or girl?

Do we want a boy or a girl? I wouldn’t mind a boy. Being a male myself, it’s only natural. Christine would like a girl, since she already had Daniel. Her parents would like a girl. A boy would carry on the Jose name one generation further. But a girl could play sports and do all the boy stuff as well. Besides, they do make pink Cardinal baseball caps. And I really love the phrase “daddy’s little girl”.

I don’t want to find out whether CL is having a boy or a girl until the day of the baby’s birth. CL originally felt the same way as I did. That is, until people pointed out that it helps to know ahead of time so they can prepare. We can paint the nursery the right color. Grandma can buy the right colored materials when making quilts and blankets for the baby. Family and friends can buy the right colored outfits. It seems to all be about the colors; neutral colors yellow, green, and brown just aren’t cute enough. Finding out the gender early helps the baby be fashionable once it is born. Now would a 4-week-old baby boy know or even care that he was wearing pink? Probably not. Of course, I’ll pay for this ten years from now till the day I die when he sees his baby pictures.

Everyone is acting as if we know it will be a girl, even though we don’t know. At least 10 girl names have been discussed; CL maybe mentioned 1 boy name. We’ve looked at more pink outfits than blue outfits. We even refer to the baby as “she” when we talk about “her”. At her last appointment, CL heard the baby’s heartbeat. It’s said that a heart rate of over 140 means it’s a girl (old wive’s tale). “She” had 160 beats.

Does this talk about having a baby girl bother me? Not at all. If she chooses to find out early, I’m cool with that. Someone mentioned to her that she could keep it from me so I could wait until the baby is born. CL pointed out that painting our nursery pink just might give it away.